From the face of the king, his eyes fell to the silver tablet in the
nerveless hand. Moving close, and holding the lamp in convenient
position, he knelt and read the inscription.

I.

"There is but one God, and He was from the beginning, and will be
without end.

II.

"In my lifetime, I prepared this vault and tomb to receive my body, and
keep it safely; yet it may be visited, for the earth and sea are always
giving up their secrets.

III.

"Therefore, O Stranger, first to find me, know thou!

"That in all my days I kept intercourse with Solomon, King of the Jews,
wisest of men, and the richest and greatest. As is known, he set about
building a house to his Lord God, resolved that there should be nothing
like it in the world, nothing so spacious, so enriched, so perfect in
proportions, so in all things becoming the glory of his God. In sympathy
with him I gave him of the skill of my people, workers in brass, and
silver, and gold, and products of the quarries: and in their ships my
sailors brought him the yield of mines from the ends of the earth. At
last the house was finished; then he sent me the model of the house, and
the coins, and cloths of gold and pearl, and the precious stones, and